Almost £1m may have been wasted at crown courts as thousands of lawyers strike
in protest against cuts to legal aid

Almost a million pounds may have been wasted at crown courts across Britain on Monday after thousands of lawyers staged an unprecedented walkout at courts in England and Wales.

Barristers have chosen not to attend proceedings at courts in cities including London, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle, Winchester, Bristol and Cardiff.

Outside London's historic Old Bailey, around 200 legal representatives huddled together in a show of solidarity.

The walkout meant thousands of criminal cases due to be heard on Monday morning had to be rescheduled, at a cost of hundreds of thousands to the taxpayer.

It costs around £1,700 a day to run a trial in a crown court, and with half a day lost due to the strike at each of the approximately 1,000 courts affected, it is estimated the walkout may have cost at least £850,000.

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Inside the Old Bailey, one judge complained that he was “lonely” as he sent a jury out to consider their verdicts in a terrorism case from an empty courtroom.

The Government plans to cut fees as part of a bid to slash £220 million from the legal aid budget by 2018/19 – reducing them by as much as 30% in the longest and most complex cases.

Nigel Lithman QC accused the Government of “fabricating” figures to support the cuts legal proceedings across the country faced disruption from the “strike”.

The QC, who joined the picket outside Southwark Crown Court, argued that the “justice system is being put under attack in such an extreme way as will lead to its eradication and disruption”.

Mr Lithman said the "strike" had the backing of almost every chambers and accused Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, of "manipulating" official figures to falsely portray lawyers doing criminal aid work as high-earning "fat cats".

When asked what impact the cuts would have, Mr Lithman told the BBC: “We are going to see cases collapsing, as they have already started to. There are cases of murders, murder trials, that have collapsed because of them being inadequately prosecuted – that leads to enormous concerns for the victim’s family.

“Secondly, the barristers will not work, they have made that quite clear, at rates that take them, as one person was telling me of his earnings today, to around £13,000 as a taxable income. That is a man with a law degree and a masters in public international law – who would work at those rates?

“This is how the public will see it as far as prosecution is concerned – without people coming into the system there will simply be nobody of ability to prosecute serious cases.

“Where will paedophiles and rapists be living? Not doing the 100 year terms of which the Government speaks but, I am afraid, next door to the public if their convictions fail.”

However, the Ministry of Justice denied that it could have such an impact. A spokesperson said: "There is no threat to public safety from our plans to reduce legal aid fee for advocates — to suggest murderers, rapists and paedophiles would be walking the streets is alarmist rubbish."

The nationwide protest is the first in the history of the criminal bar.

The Ministry of Justice said it was vital to scale back the most expensive legal aid scheme in the world and insisted it will remain "very generous" even after the changes.

The department highlighted figures showing that 1,200 barristers judged to be working full-time on taxpayer-funded criminal work received £100,000 each in fee income last year. Six barristers picked up more than £500,000 each, it said.

But Mr Lithman, whose own case was moved to the afternoon, said the same official statistics showed that – after allowing for VAT and other expenses – the average barrister involved in the work earned nothing like those wages.

The Bar Council calculated that it was around the £27,000 national average, he said, meaning the cuts would push people away from the vital work.

Mr Lithman said he had “absolutely no idea” where the Government was getting its figures from, including estimates that lawyers on legal aid were earning an average salary of £80,000 a year.

“I can only say it has been fabricated,” he said.

The Bar Standards Board has warned that any barristers who stay away from court will almost certainly be in breach of their professional code of conduct with "very serious consequences".

It urged the CBA to call off the action which it said could harm the interests of clients, others involved in a case and public confidence in the administration of justice.

The reforms also include limits on prisoners' access to legal aid, a household disposable income threshold for criminal legal aid and reductions in the cost of fees for representation.

Former director of public prosecutions Lord Macdonald joined the condemnation of the cuts and accused Mr Grayling of "destroying something he doesn't really understand".

The Liberal Democrat peer said two MoJ ministers – Lib Dem Simon Hughes and Tory Lord Faulks – had expressed concerns and should have a "serious conversation" with Mr Grayling.

"These are people who are working extremely hard for low incomes and 30% cuts on top of that, in circumstances where the legal aid budget was underspent by £56 million last year, seems unreasonable," he said.

"I fear that Mr Grayling is in danger of destroying something that he doesn't fully understand, which is a criminal justice system which is as good as any in the world, which is fair and which supports people who don't have money as well as people who do."

Shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan said: "No one wants to see disruption in our courts but this unprecedented action shows how relations between the legal profession and David Cameron's Government have collapsed as a result of policies which could restrict access to our courts to only those who can afford it.

"The Lord Chancellor swears an oath to uphold the law of the land, so for Chris Grayling to have lost the confidence of the legal community he relies on to deliver on this oath is extremely worrying."

An MoJ spokesman said: "We entirely agree lawyers should be paid fairly for their work, and believe our proposals do just that.

"We also agree legal aid is a vital part of our justice system – that's why we have to find efficiencies to ensure it remains sustainable and available to those most in need of a lawyer.

"Agencies involved in the criminal justice system will take steps to minimise any upset court disruption could cause for victims and witnesses involved in trials."